Minimum wage ordinance to go before voters; Atkins to Eureka Council: Initiative should have been enacted immediately

The Eureka City Council opted Tuesday, with Councilwoman Linda Atkins dissenting, to put an ordinance that would see Eureka's minimum wage bumped to at least $12 an hour in the hands of voters.

In making their decision, the council said it would also like to see city staff prepare a report in the coming months on the possible impacts of the proposed Eureka Fair Wage Act initiative petition -- also known as the Minimum Wage Ordinance. The initiative would exempt small businesses with 24 or fewer employees.

"The only alternative really tonight would have been for us to adopt this ordinance without the full input of the public," Councilwoman Marian Brady said. "I don't think that would have been good. There are many people with opinions on this issue. I think putting this in the hands of voters is only fair."

In dissenting, Atkins said would have liked to see the council approve the ordinance, without alteration, Tuesday night. With more than a dozen individuals speaking before the council -- the majority in favor of the ordinance -- she said it appeared that the public had already spoken.

"Over the last 30 years, we have been inundated with a mindset that doesn't work," Atkins said. "There has been a concentrated effort to think of working people as the enemy. Over and over again we are told that raising the minimum wage will hurt businesses. But I know a San Jose study has shown that raising the bottom workers wages has actually helped businesses grow and prosper."

Atkins cited 2010 statistics from the California Budget Project stating that a single adult living in Humboldt County would have to make just over $13 an hour "just to make it." That includes the cost of food, housing and transportation. It does not include extras like college savings, vacations or emergencies.

"Right now we are not even talking about raising the minimum wage to something people can live on," she said. "This is about raising people up from desperate poverty."

The petition was brought before the council after backers succeeded in gathering more than 1,370 signatures -- or 10 percent of the number of registered voters in the city. Under the city charter, the council had three choices: adopt the initiative without revision as an ordinance, let voters determine its fate in the next election, or request a report to be prepared by staff within the next 30 days on the possible impacts of the ordinance.

Eureka resident James Decker, who helped circulate the petition, said he wasn't surprised by the council's decision.

"It went pretty much as I expected," he said. "It was wise (of the council) not requesting a staff report in the next 30 days and spending city money on information we already have."

Decker said he isn't worried about the ordinance going before voters. Recent efforts to increase the minimum wage across the nation have been met with success, he said. He pointed to a number of cities, including San Jose, where a voter-approved minimum wage increase from $8 to $10 an hour kicked in Monday for residents. Business groups there spent more than a half-million dollars trying to defeat the measure, which passed with nearly 60 percent approval.

"Everyone we have talked to -- by a 10-1 margin -- has been supportive of this ordinance," he said. "I think people really understand how important it is to give those at the bottom a step up."

Under the city charter, the ordinance will be submitted, without alteration, to voters in the Nov. 4, 2014 election.